Wealth Counsel, LLC/Southern Minnesota Estate Planning Council, LLC

It is said that people are known by the company they keep.  Our estate planning attorneys – Steven J. Franta and Patrick A. Lowther – belong to Wealth Counsel, LLC, a national network of over 1600 attorneys who practice primarily estate planning. This organization affords us access to the most current laws on the federal level, in Minnesota and in every other state. Sometimes good planning calls for a trust or corporation to be sited in a state other than Minnesota, so knowing the laws, as well as experienced attorneys, in other states is important.

Plus, through Wealth Counsel we subscribe to the most up to date estate planning software that goes way beyond the Continuing Legal Education form books relied upon in the past by many attorneys. Our software allows us to custom design the planning instruments that will best serve your needs, and we invite you into the design and drafting process, all in an effort to de-mystify the documents by helping you better understand them.

In addition, Attorneys Franta and Lowther are both founding members of Southern Minnesota Estate Planning Counsel, LLC (SMEC), which consists of attorneys in our area who belong to Wealth Counsel and specialize in estate and/or medical assistance planning.

Recently our firm was hired by a client who checked out other lawyers in southern Minnesota and told us that she hired our firm because “you’re up on things.”  This simple Midwestern euphemism speaks volumes: we are up on things because estate planning is what we do, and the company we keep, namely the attorney members of Wealth Counsel and SMEC, are available with ideas and advice when we need it.